After months of waiting, Research In Motion (RIM) has confirmed that Australian BlackBerry users would be able to purchase apps from the BlackBerry App World store.

RIM said today that users would be able to make purchases starting at US$0.99 using various payment options.

"Customers will be able to purchase applications using PayPal and major credit cards, including Visa and MasterCard," RIM said in a statement.

The smartphone maker also announced new security features in the latest version of software that gives users a BlackBerry secure identification marker. The marker will allow users to carry purchases over when switching to a new device.

The company had previously launched a free version of App World in December last year and couldn't confirm when paid applications would become available.

RIM has had its fair share of headlines over the past few weeks, with countries including India and Saudi Arabia raising concerns over the security of messaging data that was preventing government agencies from monitoring user communications.